Helmut Duckadam

Helmut Duckadam (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈhelmut dukaˈdam], sometimes spelled Helmuth; 1 April 1959 – 2 December 2024) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Helmut Duckadam

Duckadam in 1986
Personal information
Date of birth	(1959-04-01)1 April 1959
Place of birth	Semlac, Romania
Date of death	2 December 2024(2024-12-02) (aged 65)
Place of death	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1974–1975	Semlecana Semlac
1975–1977	Școala Sportivă Gloria Arad
1977–1978	UTA Arad
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1977–1978	→ Constructorul Arad (loan)
1978–1982	UTA Arad[a]	53	(0)
1983–1986	Steaua București	80	(0)
1989–1991	Vagonul Arad
1993–1994	CPL Arad
Total		133	(0)
International career
1979–1983	Romania U21	4	(0)
1982–1985	Romania B	2	(0)
1982	Romania	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Duckadam was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his performance in the 1986 European Cup final, won by his club Steaua București, where he saved all four penalties against Barcelona in the penalty shootout, for the first time in football history. He represented four other teams in a 12-year senior career.

Club career

Helmut Duckadam was born on 1 April 1959 in Semlac, Arad County, Romania, being of Banat Swabian (German) descent, growing up being a fan of goalkeepers Gordon Banks, Luis Arconada and Stere Adamache.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} He started to play football at local club, Semlecana.^[1][2] Afterwards he spent a few years at Școala Sportivă Gloria Arad, then in 1977 he went at the youth center of UTA Arad but shortly he started his senior career as he was loaned to Divizia C club, Constructorul Arad where he was wanted by coach Nicolae Dumitrescu.^[1][2][4][5] During this period spent at Constructorul he decided to wear a moustache, being inspired to do so by goalkeeper Enver Marić.^[3] After one year he returned to UTA where on 14 September 1978 he made his Divizia A debut when coach Ion Ionescu sent him on the field for the last 20 minutes of a 2–0 loss with CS Târgoviște, managing to not concede any goals.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The team relegated at the end of his first season but Duckadam stayed with the club, helping it promote back to the first league after two seasons, managing in this period to score a goal with a long-shot from his box in a game with FCM Reșița.^[1][4][7][8] However after only one season, The Old Lady relegated once again and after one more half of season spent in the second league, he went to play for Steaua București.^{[1][2][9][10]}

In his first two seasons with Steaua he had to compete with Vasile Iordache and Gheorghe Nițu.^[2] Afterwards he became first-choice goalkeeper, winning The Double in the 1984–85 season when he was used in 31 league matches by coaches Florin Halagian and Emerich Jenei, managing to not concede any goals for 606 consecutive minutes.^{[1][2][5][11][12]} He also played all the minutes in the 2–1 victory from the Cupa României final over Universitatea Craiova and made his debut in European competitions as he appeared in both legs of the 1–0 aggregate loss to A.S. Roma from the first round of the European Cup Winners' Cup, managing to save a penalty executed by Ubaldo Righetti.^{[1][2][5][13]} In the following season, Duckadam won another championship title, playing 32 league games under the guidance of Jenei who also used him in all the nine games from the historical European Cup campaign in which Duckadam conceded only five goals and in the final he saved four consecutive penalty shots in the shoot-out, from José Ramón Alexanko, Ángel Pedraza, Pichi Alonso and Marcos in the eventual 2–0 victory against Barcelona.^{[1][2][5][11][14][15]} After saving the fourth penalty, Romanian commentator, Teoharie Coca-Cosma enthusiastically yelled the famous phrase:"Duckadam saves! We are finalists! We won the Cup!"^[16] His performance of saving four penalties in one game was listed as a record by The Guinness Book of World Records.^[17] Steaua's first game after the winning of the European Cup was a 5–1 win over Progresul București in the quarter-finals of the Cupa României in which Duckadam scored the second goal of his career from a penalty, being encouraged to do so by the 70.000 fans who were chanting his name when the penalty was awarded.^{[3][4][7][18][19]} Duckadam won the Romanian Footballer of the Year award in 1986 and in the same year he was nominated for the Ballon d'Or.^{[2][20][21][22][23]}

In the summer of 1986, while being at a campfire in Arad, Duckadam suffered an accident as he slipped on the grass and leaned on his right arm, then he felt a great pain and his hand was bruised.^[5][24][25] At the hospital he was diagnosed with a blood clot that blocked the circulation in his arm so he got operated.^[24] Because of this he couldn't play football at high level anymore, three years later trying a comeback at Vagonul Arad where he stayed from 1989 until 1991, then between 1993 and 1994 he was at CPL Arad, both spells being in the Romanian lower leagues.^{[1][9][18][24]}

On 25 March 2008, Duckadam was decorated by the President of Romania, Traian Băsescu, with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") – class II, for his part in winning the 1986 European Cup.^[26]

International career

Between 1979 and 1985, Helmut Duckadam made four appearances for Romania's under-21 squad and two for the B side.^[27]

Duckadam was first called-up to play for Romania's national team while playing for UTA Arad in Divizia B, coach Mircea Lucescu wanting to use him in a match with Switzerland.^[3][28] However Duckadam was very nervous and in the morning of the day of the game he told Lucescu that he can't play, eventually Dumitru Moraru played in the 0–0 with the Swiss.^[3][29] His first appearance for The Tricolours took place on 1 September 1982, managing to keep a clean sheet as Lucescu used him all the minutes in the 1–0 friendly win over Denmark.^[30][31] His second and last appearance for the national team took place on 17 November of the same year when Lucescu sent him on the field in the 87th minute in order to replace Moraru in a 4–1 loss in a friendly with East Germany.^[30][32]

After retirement

After retiring from football, Duckadam worked for a while in the late 1990s as a major for the Romanian Border Police in the Arad County, also around the same time he opened a football school in Arad, named after himself.^{[3][18][33][34][35]} In 2002 he became a member of the Romanian Humanist Party but left it in 2004 to join the New Generation Party where he was the party's vice-president.^[35][36][37] In 2003, Duckadam won at the Diversity Immigrant Visa organized by the American embassy from Bucharest and emigrated with his family to the United States, however he soon returned to Arad as he was unable to adjust to the life in the US.^{[33][35][36][38]}

In 2006 he worked for a few months as the general manager of UTA Arad.^[39] From 2010 until 2020, Duckadam was the honorary president of FCSB.^{[33][35][36][40]}

In the final years of his life he regularly appeared as a guest on Digi Sport's "Fotbal Club" programme.^[36][41]

Writing

He wrote one autobiographical book:^[42]

• Duckadam, Helmut (1989). O victorie aplaudată [An applauded victory] (in Romanian). București: Editura Militară. ISBN 978-9-7332-0102-1.

In 2022, author Milan Radin wrote a book inspired from the life of Duckadam called Der Tormann (The Goalkeeper).^[14][43]

Death

Duckadam died on 2 December 2024 in the Military Hospital from Bucharest, at the age of 65.^[14][44]

On 30 January 2025, during a Europa League match with Manchester United, FCSB's fans displayed a scenography consisting of a giant image of Duckadam holding the European Cup, beneath it being written:"Legends never die".^[45]

Honours

UTA Arad

• Divizia B: 1980–81^[1]

Steaua București

• Divizia A: 1984–85, 1985–86^[1]
• Cupa României: 1984–85^[1]
• European Cup: 1985–86^[1]

Individual

• Romanian Footballer of the Year: 1986^[20]
• Ballon d'Or: 1986 (8th place)^[21][22]

Notes

1. The statistics for the 1979–80, 1980–81 and 1982–83 Divizia B seasons are unavailable.^[1]